With virtually no atmosphere on the moon—and, therefore, no wind—flags that fly freely on Earth would hang like limp cloth in the lunar environment. So engineers had to rethink flagpole design entirely. …

To deploy the flag, one astronaut used a sampling hammer to pound the lower vertical section into the ground. The other astronaut extended the telescoping crossbar and raised it to a 90-degree angle with the vertical section to click it into place. Then the two astronauts slid the upper part of the pole into the lower one.

Once they got the flag up, several factors made it look as though it was flying, First there were wrinkles in it because of how tightly it was packed. And these add to the illusion that the flag is waving. Also, the astronauts didn’t always get the horizontal crossbar extended all the way—they were working in pressurized spacesuits and really cumbersome gloves, after all—which caused the flag to bunch up in places. That also made it look like it’s waving.

President Donald Trump welcomed Apollo 11 astronauts at the White House on Friday to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Americans landing on the moon and planting the American flag there. …

Trump called the moon landing event “one of the greatest achievements ever” and said that the United States was committed to continuing the exploration of space.

Buzz Aldrin, the Apollo 11 lunar module pilot, and Michael Collins, the Apollo 11 command module pilot, came to the White House for the event as well as Neil Armstrong’s two sons. Other family members of the three astronauts also attended the event. (Armstrong, the first man to land on the moon, died in 2012.) …

Trump said he was pleased that the United States no longer had to rely on Russia to get up into space, thanks to the private space industry working with NASA.

Yes, that’s what Obama had brought the US down to! (He had assigned a different, earthbound task to NASA – “to reach out to the Muslim world”!)

Now that we have a visionary – with sound business sense – in the Oval Office, NASA will go back to doing its proper job.

“NASA is back,” Trump said. “We’re having rich guys use it and pay us rent; I like that.”

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine also attended the event, declaring that it was important for the United States to return to the moon long-term in order to launch a mission to Mars.

“We prove that out on the moon, then we go to Mars,” Bridenstine said.

But Collins appeared to disagree.

“Mars direct,” he said shortly.

Aldrin disagreed. “You’re impatient,” he interjected off camera.

Trump brought up the debate live in the Oval Office during the Oval Office meeting with the press.

Aldrin supports building a moon base and space station to help launch future trips to Mars, a proposal that Vice President Mike Pence and Bridenstine also favor.

“Who knows better than these people right?” Trump asked, pointing at the two astronauts.

But Bridenstine repeated that NASA needed to learn how to live onsite on the moon using available resources for long-term exploration. He argued that the mission to Mars should be launched from a space station to escape the earth’s gravity. …

Trump seems fascinated by the idea of going straight to Mars and only favors talk about returning to the Moon as long as it is focused on the ultimate mission to Mars.